Image Wars: Promoting Kings & Commonwealths in England 1603-1660

Spin doctors, photo opportunities and 'managing the news' may appear to have emerged only recently on the political scene, but in fact image and its manipulation have always been vital to the authority of rulers. This book, the second in Kevin Sharpe's trilogy exploring image, power and communication in early modern England, examines their importance during the turbulent seventeenth century. From the crowning of James I to the end of Cromwell's Protectorate, Sharpe considers how kings and, increasingly, monarchy's opponents sought to manage their public image in order to enhance their authority and win support. Royalists and parliamentarians - often using the same vocabularies - engaged in a battle to win legitimacy from the people, played out in words, pictures and performances that might validate rule. Embracing a wide range of sources, including proclamations, coins, buildings and art, Sharpe demonstrates how crucial the appreciation, appropriation and innovation of image was to the outcome of this period. Kevin Sharpe was Director of the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of 'The Personal Rule of Charles I', 'Reading Revolutions' and 'Selling the Tudor Monarchy', all published by Yale University Press.